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news, events, and commentary from the Arts & Sciences Core CurriculumTue, 06 Dec 2016 22:12:51 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.12Maths & Science: popular until tastedhttp://blogs.bu.edu/core/2013/10/28/maths-science-popular-until-tasted/
http://blogs.bu.edu/core/2013/10/28/maths-science-popular-until-tasted/#commentsMon, 28 Oct 2013 18:26:33 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/core/?p=3532Relating to the frustratingly constant and reliable doubts that some students feel toward their majors, is an article from the Wall Street Journal discussing the choice of field. Their claim is that mathematics and science majors are relatively popular – until of course, students realize ‘what they are in for’. Here is an excerpt:

The researchers found that while math and science majors drew the most interest initially, not many students finished with degrees in those subjects. More students dropped out of math and science majors and fewer students switched into them than any other area of study, including professional programs, social sciences, humanities and business.

The survey results also showed that the students who dropped out didn’t do so because they discovered an unexpected amount of the work. In fact, students who expressed interest initially anticipated more work than other majors.

The students switched out because they were dissatisfied with their grades. “Students knew science was hard to begin with, but for a lot of them it turned out to be much worse than what they expected,” said Todd R. Stinebrickner, one of the paper’s authors. “What they didn’t expect is that even if they work hard, they still won’t do well.”

Compare this to the ideas presented here in our recent post on the English major.

What do you think – in your experiences as students, have you naturally expected effort to give the expected results? When might it not?